SANTA ANA, Calif. – The Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) is seeking the public’s help identifying potential additional victims of a man who is scheduled to be arraigned today for posing as a police officer and kidnapping a woman to commit a sex offense.

WESTMINSTER, Calif.– The Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) and the Garden Grove Police Department (GGPD) are seeking the public’s help identifying potential additional victims of a youth group volunteer charged with sexually assaulting two boys under the age of 18. Isai Beltran, 25, Long Beach, is charged with two felony counts of performing lewd acts on a child under the age of 14, one misdemeanor count of sexual battery, and one misdemeanor count of child annoyance. If convicted, Beltran faces a maximum of 10 years in state prison. Beltran is out of custody on $100,000 bail, and is scheduled for a continued arraignment, tomorrow, July 24, 2015, at 8:30 a.m. in Department W-12, West Justice Center, Westminster.

Between January 2013 and December 2014, Beltran is accused of working as a youth group volunteer at several churches in Los Alamitos and Cypress. Continue reading→

NEWS ADVISORY: Dedication Ceremony Planned for $297 Million West County Connectors Project

WHAT: Transportation officials from the Orange County Transportation Authority and Caltrans will join with partners from the federal, state and local levels to mark the completion of the West County Connectors project, which directly connects the carpool lanes between the I-405, I-605 and SR-22 freeways and adds six miles of carpool lane.

The event will mark the completion of the four-year $297 million project that runs through the cities of Garden Grove, Westminster, Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, Long Beach and the community of Rossmoor.
WHEN: 2 to 3 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 12. Continue reading→

SANTA ANA – The Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) convicted four men in January 2015 of agreeing to engage in prostitution. The defendants in these cases approached a woman, whom they believed to be a prostitute, in areas known for prostitution and human trafficking in Orange County or loitered in areas known for prostitution and human trafficking in Orange County. Each of the defendants agreed to engage in commercial sex with a woman and were subsequently arrested by law enforcement.

SANTA ANA – A jury determined today that a man was legally sane when he murdered his grandmother and set her house on fire while his 8-year-old brother and 3-year-old niece were inside the home. Joseph Elija Ettima, 30, was found guilty by the same jury Feb. 4, 2014, of one felony count of second degree murder, one felony count of arson of an inhabited dwelling, two felony counts of child abuse, and a sentencing enhancement for arson with an accelerant. Ettima faces a maximum sentence of 27 years and eight months to life in state prison at his sentencing March 7, 2014, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-41, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana. Continue reading→

SANTA ANA – A man was convicted today of murdering his grandmother and setting her house on fire while his 8-year-old brother and 3-year-old niece were inside the home. Joseph Elija Ettima, 30, was found guilty by a jury Feb. 4, 2014, of one felony count of second degree murder, one felony count of arson of an inhabited dwelling, two felony counts of child abuse, and a sentencing enhancement for arson with an accelerant. As the defendant entered pleas of “not guilty” and “not guilty by reason of insanity,” the trial will now move into a second phase, the sanity phase. The sanity phase will begin Monday, Feb. 10, 2014, at 10:00 a.m. in Department C-41, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana. Ettima faces a sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole if the jury finds he was legally sane at the time of the murder. Continue reading→

WESTMINSTER – A man was sentenced Friday for assaulting a victim following a road rage pursuit. Robert Allen Barnhart, 54, Bellflower, was found guilty by a jury July 25, 2013, of two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one misdemeanor count of battery. He was sentenced Friday, Sept. 27, 2013, to 180 days in jail, 185 days in jail stayed pending completion of five years formal probation, lifetime license revocation, and ordered to attend 22 weeks of anger management classes. Continue reading→

Chris Nguyen, over at OC Political, wrote a very complete analysis of the election results in the 72nd Assembly District, where two Republican candidates, Travis Allen and Troy Edgar, will face off again in November.

Nguyen analyzed the vote in each city in the 72nd and found that Edgar and Allen were in the top two in the Cities of Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach,
and Rossmoor. Edgar also came in second in the City of Garden Grove. Continue reading→

UPDATE: The City of Mission Viejo is also considering a new ordinance banning registered sex offenders from their parks, at their City Council meeting tonight. Click here to read the press release, from the O.C. District Attorney’s office.

The City of Los Alamitos enacted tonight a law to create child safety zones to protect children from registered sex offenders in city parks and playgrounds, according to an O.C. District Attorney press release. The O.C. Board of Supervisors passed a similar measure in April of this year. Click here to read about that.

When is the City of Santa Ana going to pass a similar motion? It is a well known fact that perverts congregate nightly at Santa Ana’s Santiago Park. Continue reading→